One of the strangest aristocractic female names ever:Lady Feodorowna Cecilia Wellesley (1838 - 1920).In Russian ears, a girl called Feodorovna as a first name sounds like a girl named Johnson in Anglophone ears, doesn't it?She was the daughter of the British diplomat Henry Wellesley, 1st Earl Cowley, who was British ambassador to France 1852–1867, i.e. during a most anti-Russian period (the Crimean War). But I don't know where he was posted when she was born i 1838. In Russia, with Empress Alexandra Feodorovna as godmother?

The empress condescending to be godmother to a grandniece of the Duke of Wellington is perhaps not so unlikely. Lady Feodorowna married Francis Bertie, 1st Viscount Bertie of Thame, another wartime British ambassador to allied France (1905 - 1918). They had one son with a similar odd name: Vere (ancient aristocratic surname) Bertie, which sounds like it should have been reversed: Bertie Vere!

Even though Feodora was the name of a few 19th-century German princesses, the names Feodora (Theodora) and Feodosia (Theodosia) don't seem to be in use in Russian anymore, but are archaïc or monastic.

One of my pet peeves about name is trying to be very creative and original with the spelling. Its one thing when there are two or three recognized spellings of a name (ex:Stephen/Steven Catherine/Katherine/Kathryn Rachel/Rachael) but spellings like Bryttanai, Hayleah, Erynne, and Kathrynne just bother me. A child with a name like this always has to correct the spelling and hear people comment on it.

I wouldn't give my a child a diminutive name like Susie, Katie, or Lizzie. I love the name Katie but were I to have a daughter I would name her Katherine and call her Katie. That way if when she became an adult she could go with the full name rather than the diminutive.

I would add that there are some names which sound reasonable on a child but silly on an adult, and struggle with Russian diminutives, some of which, especially for men, sound dreadfully babyish to my ear.

I wouldn't give my a child a diminutive name like Susie, Katie, or Lizzie. I love the name Katie but were I to have a daughter I would name her Katherine and call her Katie. That way if when she became an adult she could go with the full name rather than the diminutive.

There was a server at a restaurant that I frequent named Jenny. Not Jennifer, just Jenny.

There was a server at a restaurant that I frequent named Jenny. Not Jennifer, just Jenny.

In my part of the world, Scandinavia, Jennifer (either with original English pronunciation or adapted to Yennifer), like so many Anglo-Saxon names imported within living memory (post-WW2) has certain trashy connotations. (I.e. only used by people who primarily consume Hollywood movies, soaps etc.) Whereas Jenny (pronounced only Yenny), which must have been imported in the 19th century (along with Fanny, Henny, Harriet, Maud, Olga, Dagmar, Alva, Alma, etc.) is totally comme-il-faut (even a little bourgeois-bohemian) with nostalgic overtones of Edwardian / Oscarian great-grandmothers, the novel "Jenny" by Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset and Jenny Lind.

One of my pet peeves about name is trying to be very creative and original with the spelling.

Also known as ornamental or Baroque spelling: Love of voluminous pomposity, bizarre contrasts, ornamentations and horror vacui. Add to that a Romantic fascination for the exotic and nostalgia for bygone ages.

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spellings like Bryttanai, Hayleah, Erynne, and Kathrynne just bother me.

Lol, Bryttanai, that's almost going etymological, from the Ancient Greek sources speaking of πρεταννικαὶ νῆσοι, pretannikai nesoi, Britannic isles. I wonder if there are any Prettneys running around, because p is much prettier than beastly b and besides it's both Greek and Welsh (Ynys Prydain - could be become a hit name!)Hayleah is interesting, as it's the more correct etymological form of the original place name (meaning "hay field"), later surname Hayley.

The medievalesques who love to substitute y for i (Kathryn ye Qwyn of Womyn), are they perhaps really ypsilonistic devotees of Pythagoras worshipping the mysteries of the two-pathed Samian letter? See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upsilon#Symbolism :-)